On Dragging…

Here’s something really interesting, and for a moment I got myself wondering, “Am I a hypocrite?”

Guild Wars 2 is a game that I spend maybe an hour or two a day playing. I’ve mentioned it occasionally on this blog, but by and large have tried to avoid critiquing the writing staff too much.

But I rather hit my limit when trying to discuss the character that is Scarlet Briar.

For a better part of roughly six months, GW2 players have dealt with a really slow moving set-up (or at least I presume it’s a set-up) for the motivations of this character. It’s a consequence of their two-week “Living Story” updates and not wanting to dump so much content that casual players get left behind. Nonetheless, this REALLY long slog has been taking its toll on an increasingly larger segment of the player base that the forums are beginning to sound like a Monty Python Segment.

And honestly, at this point, I’ve joined those masses. I mean, I get what Arena.net is trying to do… they’re trying to get us thinking, speculating, then “wow” us when all the pieces fall into place. But it’s not working. There’s not enough meat every two weeks to keep people interested.

And that’s where I kinda froze up.

Because that was a complaint that popped up on more than one occasion as I’ve been putting together “The Wild North” for Exiern. And, it’s true that I’ve made (and am still making in some ways) a very slow play of story elements, which probably isn’t resonating with every reader as it’s on a 2-page a week schedule. Yes, I was hearing “get on with it” too.

And perhaps this is rationalizing on my part, but as I gave it some thought, I decided at the end that I can criticize Arena.net’s progress with Scarlet Briar while maintaining my own slow play.

Why?

Arena.net’s audience had to drop $60 up front for this slog. Exiern remains completely free-to-read. As a result, I really am under no obligation to answer to my customers… because at this point, I don’t have any. I know that there IS a store and a secondary site involved, but I have nothing to do with either, and I see no profits from either. They are of no concern to me. I am more than comfortable telling my story at my pace. I will remain to see $0 from it until the story is completed and is (hopefully) published for sale.

As such, my end goal is not immediate satisfaction. I need to compose the best complete story I can, and this particular story I am trying to tell I feel best comes together over time. It honestly won’t feel nearly as long and drawn out when it’s all in front of you to be consumed at once.

Arena.net, on the other hand, has an obligation to those who gave them money to entertain them, and their slow play isn’t cutting it. Sorry guys… you better wrap it up. Quickly.

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This entry was posted on November 27, 2013 at 2:26 am and is filed under Grumblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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